Ivan Ordets: Oleksandriya’s strength is their unity

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

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Shakhtar defender talked with representatives of the media ahead of the Ukrainian Cup tie

- We have two important semi-finals ahead. Isn’t there such a thing that you prepare only for the game vs Sevilla, treating the cup tie just as a walk in the park?
- We fight simultaneously in three different competitions, and we need to win everywhere. Shakhtar are the team who in every encounter should achieve a good result and win. I think there will be no complacency issue.

- Do you think that you can still mount a challenge for the league title?
- We need to believe in ourselves to the end. All the teams are levelling now, it’s very difficult to play away. Vorskla can take points away from Dynamo, and we will have a good match against Kyiv. Everything is still ahead.

- Oleksandriya sprang some very interesting surprises in the Cup and League. How do they manage that?
- Through unity. They play well at home, with the home stands cheering them on. When we met with the same opponents in the first half of the season, we won 3-2 - it was tough. Tomorrow will also be a difficult game. We must go out and bare our teeth.

- Does Mister motivate you in any way?
- Yes, for every match. He doesn’t allow us to get slack, all the guys are in good shape. Fortunately, everyone is healthy. We are getting ready for the encounter.

- Did you expect that you would manage to overcome Braga so easily?
- I would not say that we found it easy. In the away game, from the opening minutes, they controlled the ball well, while in the game in Lviv, we excellently counterattacked, it’s good that we scored.

- Will it be hard to play vs Yevhen Konoplyanka?
- I think so. He is a good player who performs well in Europe and proves himself well there.

- Did you discuss the draw result with him?
- No, to be honest, I did not talk to him. We discussed it just inside the team. A good lot.

- In the next two weeks, you have a very busy schedule. How can you endure it? The match against Dynamo is being held in Lviv not to fly between places?
- I want to say that these two weeks have been very difficult. For a whole month we had a ‘fun’ schedule: we play once in every three games. Therefore, we need to recover properly and well. And most importantly, all the guys should be available. In this case, Mister will have enough people in the squad to reshuffle.

- Do you expect any surprises from Dynamo?
- It’s still too early to talk about Dynamo. Now we we are facing Oleksandriya, and then Chornomorets. Closer to the game against Dynamo, Mister will tell us how to prepare and how to operate on the field.

- Were you surprised by the fact that Oleksandriya knocked Dynamo out of the Ukrainian Cup?
- We drew the first leg 1-1. At home, the home stands cheered them on. They played in a very compact manner in Kyiv. The advantage of Oleksandriya was the fact that they scored a goal and defended well. They are great at doing that, so it is not quite easy to rip open their defence.

- Still, the match against Dynamo will be held in Lviv. Prior to that, they talked about Odesa and Zaporizhya. Are the Lviv stands native to you now?
- Hard to tell. In the Europa League and the Champions League, we enjoy some very good support, the stadium is full. And when we were playing Braga, they supported us very well, it was very nice. But just few people attend our league games. But I think that through the matches like in the Europa League, we have been attracting increasingly more and more fans in the domestic league.